


The Treasure of Britain

by kaizoku



Series: Summer Pornathon 2013 [3]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Afterlife, Angst, Annwn, Arthurian legend - Freeform, Dubious Consent, M/M, Playing With Mythology, Preiddeu Annwfn, Summer Pornathon 2013, Team Gluttony, Underworld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-09-07
Packaged: 2018-02-16 12:17:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2269389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaizoku/pseuds/kaizoku
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin gets lost in the underworld trying to find Arthur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Treasure of Britain

**Author's Note:**

> Challenge 3 for Summer Pornathon 2013: Fuck or die

The hall is full and loud with laughter and jest, but Merlin spots him immediately, shining golden and bright, unmistakeable. Arthur is carefree, laughing. He gestures with a drumstick as he speaks to his neighbor at the high table.

"More wine?" Merlin asks, pitcher in hand and Arthur raises his cup without turning. 

Merlin plays the attentive servant. He fills Arthur's cup, fixed on his every motion, waiting for the slightest hint. Arthur's eyes pass over him as if he was stone or not there at all.

He expected as much. It does nothing to ease the lump in his throat.

***

Merlin hears water in the walls, or behind them, all the time now, a constant running that colors every moment he spends locked in the fortress. He cannot tell day or night but at times he is returned to Camelot - to the hall of wonders where the warriors feast.

Too often now he is unsure of where or when he is.

Sometimes he lights his dank cell with pictures of dragons and fantastic creatures and basks in the glow until he can sleep.

***

He has time now to think, to reflect on the pain he caused and the pain that drove - drives - him. Years of wandering, sailing the western seas, searching the northern mountains, studying forgotten tomes, working magic so dark he is only glad it yielded nothing.

When the gift was offered, it was so simple he cried.

***

In their long glittering halls, Morgana is set like a dark gem in a crown. She does not see him and he can only be grateful for that mercy.

***

He wakes confused, lost in the past, dreaming he hears Lancelot calling him. Then he remembers the stone of the tree, the gathering mist, the lamp-lighted door.

Lips touch his and he surges against them, welcoming the pressure. He reaches, and feels hands in his hair, strength and gentleness. It is warm and human, so real he is instantly awake and achingly hard.

Lancelot - for it _is_ Lancelot - is rubbing him, rough through the fabric of his trousers. He shuts out all noise, the terrible humming of bees, and focuses on Lancelot's his tongue in his mouth, tasting and breathing each sensation as a man dying of thirst drinks water.

"Come," Lancelot says, and he does. The buzzing dies away. Merlin opens his eyes and sees a door where there was only stone.

***

Of course, there is always a price. They might let him out of one prison, only to put him in another. At least this one is something he can do. Merlin knows secret places, deep caves and ancient cursed castles.

He brings them the horn, the hilt, the hamper, the halter and the chariot before he grows tired of the game. Then he shakes the earth so hard that the sea rises up and fire sprouts from the ground.

They build a glass tower for his treasure, a paradise where pretty girls serve sweetmeats and wash his feet. But Merlin escapes that prison too.

***

Arthur is on the beach when he comes out of the hill. A cold breeze is blowing off the lake and Arthur is wrapped in a blue cloak and looks younger than Merlin even remembers him.

His look is quizzical, as if he is trying to remember something far away and Merlin swallows, suddenly wrong-footed.

"Your Highness," he tries, and Arthur's eyes go blank. "Arthur!"

Something, but it's not enough. Merlin reaches out and pulls Arthur to him with his magic because he can - and there, _there_ \- Arthur shakes and recoils and that is the most reaction he has seen from him so far. He strips his clothes with a word and Arthur tries to run, but he binds him with magic cords, invisible but strong as iron.

It's so wrong but he is filled with joy by the way Arthur bends away from him, like a tree in a high wind, fear in his eyes.

"Arthur," he says again and again, calling him back from wherever he is, as he spreads his thighs, as he licks and sucks his cock, his hands roaming freely, calling with every ounce of power.

When Arthur comes in his mouth, he starts to cry, and Merlin pulls back. The taste of salt in his mouth makes him sick and horrified.

"Oh," Arthur says, "Oh, Merlin." And then he smiles. "You're here."


End file.
